Tonga Maritime Polytech management shift, off the radar [1]
Wednesday, January 16, 2019 - 19:08
While Ministry of Education officials are saying, unofficially, that Cabinet last week approved for the Transport Sector Public Enterprise to take over the management of the Tonga Maritime Poly-Technical Institute from the ministry, the staff of the Polytech have not been told what's going on.
When Matangi Tonga dropped by at the office of the Tonga Maritime Poly-Technical Institute today to confirm the decision, the expression “take over” was considered by the staff of the institute as a joke. A senior officer said that they had not been told of anything, even though they were visited by the Prime Minister and the Minister for the Transport Sector Public Enterprise, Dr Saia Piukala last week.
The taking over of the Tonga Maritime Poly-Technical Institute TMPI by the Board of Directors for the Transport Sector Public Enterprise from the Ministry of Education has not been confirmed by the Prime Minister's Office.
The “take over” was rumoured to be led by the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Transport Sector Public Enterprise, who was accompanied by the Minister for Labour and Commerce, and his Chief Executive Officer.
The Chairman and the Directors of the Harbour Board Authority are: Chairman, Dr Ngongo Kioa, the Governor of the Reserve Bank, and the board members are: Viliami Takau Jr, Dr Sitiveni Halapua, Fine Tohi and Wyeliffe Havea.
The Minister of Labour and Commerce is Dr Tu’i Uata, and the CEO of the Ministry is ‘Etika Cocker.
After we were tipped off by an unidentified caller this morning, Matangi Tonga has not been able to communicate with either a member of the Board of Directors of the Transport Sector Public Enterprise or the Minister for Labour or his CEO, the Office of the Prime Minister or his CEO.
However we managed to contact one of the top officials of the Ministry of Education and she said that they heard of the ‘take over’ and after trying to get confirmation from government, they were affirmed that on Friday 11 January Cabinet approved for the Transport Sector Public Enterprise to take over the management of the Tonga Maritime Poly-Technical Institute.